1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multifunction semiconductor storage device using semiconductor storage media, in particular, a multifunction semiconductor memory device connected to the host computer via the general-purpose interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
The semiconductor storage media is a semiconductor chip for storing data; the chip can receive writing commands and data and then write them into the memory chip. The chip can also receive external read commands and read the data stored on the chip and output the data. In addition, the chip also supports other commands such as erasure and resetting commands. These kinds of semiconductor storage devices of this kind include flash memory, EEPROM, FRAM, DRAM, SRAM, SDRAM or MRAM but not are restricted to them. Compared with conventional magnetic and optic memory devices, the present semiconductor memory device has the features of small volume, less weight, large storage capacity, and higher reliability and low power consumption. In addition, it does not require any specific mechanism to drive it. For example, in Chinese patent No. ZL 00114081.7 “Full Electronic External Flash Memory Technique and Device”, it discloses an external memory device using a flash memory device, wherein a semiconductor storage media and general purpose interface are used so as to realize external removable disk without external drive power supply; it supports hot dock/undock and plug-and-play function and it is not necessary to turn off the computer when doing plug and play. Furthermore, the removable memory has higher speed of data access and larger capacity than a floppy disk. In addition, it also has the advantages of small volume, easy portability, and indefectible. It can be applied to data processing systems supporting universal interface channels such as USB (universal serial bus) and IEEE1394.
Traditional floppy diskettes and floppy disk drives play less and less roles, especially after the above-mentioned external flash memory device had been invented, which makes it possible the exchange of data without floppy diskettes and floppy disk drives. However, computer users today still find that floppy diskettes and floppy disk drives are indispensable. One of the reasons is that the external flash memory disk before this invention above does not support the booting of the computer. When the computer system is infected with a virus or destroyed by the virus, an empty boot disk is needed to restart the computer through the BIOS (Basic Input and Output System). Desktop computers equip built in floppy disk drives in order to boot the system but it increases the volume and weight of the host system as well as the cost. Because of the bulkiness of the floppy disk drives, the majority of the ultra-thin laptop computers do not have built-in floppy disk drives so as to reduce the volume and weight of the computer. However, the users still have to install very expensive USB external floppy disk drives in order to boot the system and it increases the cost of the users and causes inconvenience in use.
Although the current flash memory devices such as DiskOnChip support the booting of the computer, they do not support hot plug in/out and are not removable because they are built in the computer. As a result, when the system software of the computer is destroyed by the virus, it cannot be restarted through DiskOnChip. Thus it is a restriction to the application of the device.
The current existing removable semiconductor storage devices can only be used on the driver software installed in the operating system of the computer but cannot be recognized and controlled by the BIOS of the computer, thus they cannot be used as the boot device of the system.
Most of the BIOS manufacturers have produced the BIOS capable of supporting the boot function of the external USB floppy disk drive, such as the BIOS of AWARD. Furthermore, many of the mainboard producers have adopted the above-mentioned BIOS, for example, ASUS motherboard, which lays the foundation for the large-scale use of the present invention.